chickens lost use of legs after quarantine? ducks dying?

[spish]

i recently purchased a small flock of bantam chickens - 10 in total

ive kept them outside since they first came, but on my terras away from the other chickens while they served their quarantine.
for the past few days the smaller 7 have been stumbling while walking but eating and drinking fine, then it progressed to be unable to walk properely at all and shuffling along on their hocks/elbows. from the 'knee'hock down, their legs are ice cold and seem paralysed? they dont move their toes or respond if i squeeze their feet?

2 days ago we lost two, today we lost 4. the 2 larger out the flock seem uneffected, the others seem a bit off balance and one is 'hock' walking. any idea what could be causing this?



also 3 days back i bought 9 young muscovys. they looked in good health but were super dirty and wet when i picked them up. i put them in the barn to dry off but since then 2 have died.....no idea why but one was throwing its head back as if it had no neck control at all shortly before it died? they are aged between 3 and 6 months (so not really young ducklings anymore)

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Any chance they are transferring illnesses to each other?

Have you checked VERY carefully for moldy feed? Even the tinest amount of mold under a feed or in a crevice can wipe out a flock.

Also, consider that your other birds may be carriers and are infecting the new ones.

Just tossing out some ideas, hard to say without more details. Good luck, sorry you have lost so many.

ETA, I suspect the mold. It causes gradual leg paralysis yet they still eat and drink at first.

 

[Miss Lydia]

First I will talk about the ducklings, The book I have which is by Dave Holderread,says Duck Virus Hepatitis,[DVH] will cause ducklings to retract their heads over their backs fall on their sides and paddle their feet. it does say that some ducks may recover rapidly, but continue to be carriers. If they were dirty when you got them they most likely picked it up in their bedding. Says starlings, rats and english sparrows can also bring it in. treatment is some kind of antibody, he didn't go into detail. Good sanitation and keeping wild birds and rodents out of brooding and growing pens is key to prevention. There is a vaccination also. I would seperate the ones showing symptoms from the ones not, make sure they are on clean bedding and if not completely feathered out they need some sort of heat. Also put some ACV into their drinking water. .........Now for the chicks how old and you will need to read up on Mareks to start with. Seperate the ones with symptoms from again the ones not showing any, There are some excellent threads on here about Chicken diseases, I wish you the best..and keep us updated.

 

[spish]

thank you for the reply. how long would mereks need to show its ugly face? the bantams have been with me for just over four weeks (i normally quarantine for 4 weeks, they bantams were meant to go join my others this week, luckily due to the snow i put off the big move!) and showed no symptoms for the first 3. there are 8 from july this year, then the original parents which are 2 years old, the parents are the two who have not shown ANY symptoms or illness.


the ducklings are fully feathered out and have lived outside all their life according to the woman. she was getting rid of all her ducks as she had no time for them. its the 2 smallest that died, one from 4 months and one from arround 5 months, both female (darn!) i'll have to do some research on DVH, ive never heard of it.

 

[spish]

after reading up on dvh i dont think its that. in all articles i read it says DVH is very very rarely seen in ducks over 6 weeks of age, seeing as mine are a lot older i dont see it being that? ive checked all food bins, no rotten or mouldy food, perhaps at their former home they ate some? would that take 2 or 3 days to show?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hi the reason I mentioned DVH is it was the only disease that said about them putting their heads over their backs, also I read your post on the duck thread and didn't you mention about them falling over and paddling their feet? I just am not sure, but moldy food can cause botulism which can be deadly. How were their living quaters before you got them? And they could have been sick and you just didn't notice it, sometimes it's easily over looked unless it's obvious.

 

[spish]

stupidly enough i didnt check out there previous living arrangements, due to the bad weather here the woman had caught the ducks the night before i picked them up and kept them in her shed (where they got wet and dirty) so we didnt have to run around chasing them in the rotten snow and ice. today brings no more casualties and touch wood they other ducks are looking good, as are the 2 older bantam chickens and one younger one.
i still have one younger bantam inside, he seems paralysed in his legs and shuffles around on his hocks. still no response if i squeeze his toes.

i did some reading last night and seems it could be a lack of a certain vitamin or mineral?? but couldnt find which! i dont have any kiddy vitamins here (without iron) so am wondering is there any veg/fruit/meat i could try giving that may contain the vitamins? anythings worth a shot, right?

 

[Miss Lydia]

yep anything worth a shot. Happy to hear the rest seem to doing well, is there any way you can get a hold of some vit b and E? do you have any brewers yeast? it has vitamin B. even electrolytes would be good. Also put some Apple Cider Vinegar in their water 1 tablespoon per gallon. I am sorry not sure about veggies or meat though.

 

[spish]

i put acv in yesterday and am hopibg its what is causing the improvement in most will try and get some brewers yeast tomorrow



edit - isnt marmite the same as brewers yeast? i have marmite here...........

 

[BooBear]

can ducks get wry neck? The symptoms sound like wry neck to me; however, I have zero exp with ducks and am just going by what I know that would cause a chicken to do that.
Can ducks be given Poly Visol without iron baby vitamin drops to see if it helps?
Sorry I am not much help buy hope you can get the needed help to get your babies healthy.

I am clueless on you poor chickies.